On March 4th 2014, GQA Apprentice Josh Sheldon was awarded the 2014 Staffordshire Apprentice of the Year Award at a Ceremony at the Staffordshire Fire Brigade Headquarters near Stone, Staffordshire.
Josh is an Apprentice at Tungate Labels Ltd., Cheadle, Staffordshire and is working towards the GQA Level 3 Apprenticeship in Digital Pre-Press with Axia Solutions Limited, an Ofsted Grade 1 training provider, based in Stoke on Trent. His assessor, Henryk Szor, said, “I nominated Josh for this award because of his enthusiasm and the way in which he embraced the introduction of new technology in the platemaking room”. Tungate’s print-runs can be in the millions, which often causes excessive plate wear before a print-run is complete and can result in very expensive machine down-time. His manager Phil Johnson, said, “Josh’s diligence and ability to learn new techniques, such as plate baking to increase the hardness of the surface, has resulted in a reduction of plate ‘re-makes’ by up to 50%”.
This is the second year in a row that one of Henryk’s GQA Apprentices has won the coveted Staffordshire Apprentice of the Year Award. Last year, Amy Ann Birchall of Personalised Gifts, Hanley, was presented with the 2013 Apprentice of the Year Award at a Ceremony at the Kings Hall, Stoke-on-Trent.
Henryk commented, “Amy’s contribution to the development of the Company’s design department, her ability to create new ranges and her flair for promoting products at trade shows, such as the Spring Fair, made her an ideal nominee for the award”.
Henryk is now looking for ‘three in a row’, and already has a number of excellent GQA Apprentices he hopes to nominate for the 2015 Staffordshire Apprentice of the Year Award.
